OK, had the lift done on Wednesday and have been working out the kinks. We went with the 6" Fabtech lift with the steering kit. If the guys at Fabtech aren't BS'n me it's one of three steering kits installed so far. They have one and there is one other besides mine. It added new Tierod ends (sp) which are about 3x bigger than the old ones, new pitman arm and the steering stabilizer. It's pretty tight so we're working out getting it to loosen up. The ride quality has not changed and I think is even better. The height is not an issue. If you're running stock tires than I think the height would be a little too dramatic. It doesn't make usability difficult so Stacy I think you should do it! Visibility is great! I can see over everyone again! The only issue we're dealing with now is the steering kit. The parts in the kit are so much beefier that steering has become too responsive! It's actually a little bit scary at freeway speed. Schwab Corporate has actually sent a rep to Fabtach to talk to them about fine tuning the steering to get it resolved.
All in all I love it and the guys at Schwab have been fantastic! Now I think I may need to get a little bigger tire.


Before, next to our Ford (38's w/9" lift) for comparison.

OK, had the lift done on Wednesday and have been working out the kinks. We went with the 6" Fabtech lift with the steering kit. If the guys at Fabtech aren't BS'n me it's one of three steering kits installed so far. They have one and there is one other besides mine. It added new Tierod ends (sp) which are about 3x bigger than the old ones, new pitman arm and the steering stabilizer. It's pretty tight so we're working out getting it to loosen up. The ride quality has not changed and I think is even better. The height is not an issue. If you're running stock tires than I think the height would be a little too dramatic. It doesn't make usability difficult so Stacy I think you should do it! Visibility is great! I can see over everyone again! The only issue we're dealing with now is the steering kit. The parts in the kit are so much beefier that steering has become too responsive! It's actually a little bit scary at freeway speed. Schwab Corporate has actually sent a rep to Fabtach to talk to them about fine tuning the steering to get it resolved.
All in all I love it and the guys at Schwab have been fantastic! Now I think I may need to get a little bigger tire.


Before, next to our Ford (38's w/9" lift) for comparison.

After .

.

another view

Another

Another.

Last one. I'll post more of the underside later.

Here's the old tierods as compared to the new. The steering kit is a phenomenal upgrade in beefing up the front end, however I don't recommend installation until they have resolved the issues we're having with the steering.

Wow -- what an upgrade! Looks great!

Looks great. What size tire/wheel are you running right now?

Doc, I'm running 37x13.50x20 Toyo MT's. I think that I could go to 38's pretty easily and probably will at some point. My husband is pushing for 40's, but he's going to have to push pretty hard to get me there. I think that would just be too tall for me to be comfortable with on my day to day driving. I would like a Gobi so maybe we can compromise somehow

Very Nice!!! I will be getting the Fabtech HD steering kit next week as well. From what I read on this board, the extra sensitivity from the steering is normal after getting this kit. And I think most ppl actually likes it after few days of driving/getting used to it?

Too bad my wife won't let me lift our H2 so I will only be getting some Ranchos to replace the stock shocks

Btw, I would cover/photoshop those plate #'s, too many trolls, too many weirdos in this world, you'd never know

Thanks Wilfred, forgot to do that.

Christa:

Tell your husband that 40's won't fit because they do not fit.

Need to go higher for 40's for sure!

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by HummersGoneWild:
Christa:

Tell your husband that 40's won't fit because they do not fit.

Need to go higher for 40's for sure! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

They would fit, but they would definately rub. He would actually like more lift and 40's! I don't though. I'm happy right where they are.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by wilfred:
Very Nice!!! I will be getting the Fabtech HD steering kit next week as well. From what I read on this board, the extra sensitivity from the steering is normal after getting this kit. And I think most ppl actually likes it after few days of driving/getting used to it? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Wilfred, let me know how your kit works out for you. I don't think our problem with the steering has anything to do with just getting used to it. We've lifted vehicles before and we've dealt with that. This is much more extreme. Even the guys who did the install said it's not normal. It darts pretty severly from side to side with the tiniest movement of the wheel. It was doing it on it's own at first. Felt as if you had an extremely over-loaded trailer fishtailing behind you jerking the truck around. They've toned that down somewhat by changing the toe, but it's still not right. It's better, but at higher speeds it's still pretty scary!
Let me know how yours turns out, i'm curious as to how yours will feel.
My husbands theory is that the original shock on the stabilizer was 16" long. The new shock, which is much larger in diameter, is 22" in length with only 2 1/2 inches of shaft exposed. So it seems to him that instead of having of a dampening effect, it's created almost a solid bar for a steering stabilizer. Does that make sense? If anyone has any ideas I would appreciate the input.

Ok, will do, I am scheduled to get everything installed next Friday. Keep in mind mine is not lifted and won't be afterward

Also, I assumed you guys did an alignment, right? Maybe it needs more toe-in?

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by wilfred:
Ok, will do, I am scheduled to get everything installed next Friday. Keep in mind mine is not lifted and won't be afterward

Also, I assumed you guys did an alignment, right? Maybe it needs more toe-in? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes they did an alignment and toed-in as much as they could without causing wear on the tires. That actually helped but not enough.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by wilfred:
Ok, will do, I am scheduled to get everything installed next Friday. Keep in mind mine is not lifted and won't be afterward

Also, I assumed you guys did an alignment, right? Maybe it needs more toe-in? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>I had mine done a couple of weeks ago. I got the kit from forum member PhilD:
http://www.trailduty.com/products/fabtech/index.html

Look for an increase in turning radius. Not much, but some.